Honeydew weekend

A beautiful weekend is in the offing, not cold and rainy like a week ago, but the chores are piling up.  After working at a plant sale for an arboretum, the rest of the morning was spent planting some of the plants from the plant sale, cleaning pond filters, fixing an aeration stone, moving a garden table and chairs into the garden, cleaning out a garden fountain pond, cleaning up a fountain, installing one inside the other and adding water, moving a bird feeder so that the seed scavengering squirrels don't trample Mrs. Phactor's hosta into the ground, fixing the squirrel baffle, locating the kitchen window, balcony door, and porch door screens, cleaning said screens, cleaning said windows (but only on the outside), and it's just 12:30 pm.  But the chores will stop early because of the obligation to drink a mint julep and eat some guacamole, this being Cinco de Mayo Derby Day.  Some people may watch a horse race, but the Phactor is just in it for the bourbon, one of the justifications for growing mint and getting out the monogrammed sterling silver mint julep cups.  Oh, you don't have such cups?  As explained by the Kentucky cousin who gave them to us 42 years ago, "Y'all can't right proper be married without julep cups."  Undoubtedly the reason for our marriage's success.

Kentucky Derby

Yesterday was Kentucky Derby day, and as a hat lover this sounded like a nice celebration although never had the Phactor associated a derby with Kentuckians before. The only connection in my memory was coonskin caps, a left over of childhood Disney versions of Davey Crockett. Still a hat is a hat, and even better, according to southern kin, the most important thing about derby day is mint julips. "You can't right be properly married without monogrammed silver mint julip cups", said Cousin Dan (wife's side of course), as he presented a set of four as a gift nearly 40 years ago. The southern side of my family were Baptists. Nuf said. Any beverage made with bourbon is already high on the Phactor's list, and if you have to watch a herd of numbered horses run for about 2 mins to get one, or two, or three, well, that's not too high a price to pay for a frosty minty julip is it? And in viewing the audience, it turns out that hats, big ugly ones, are indeed a part of the derby. Here's one, appropriately floral, a custom made job. A couple of mint julips, a hat like that, and who knows? Oh, yes, a horse won the race.